Fishing: Story

MLF Format Now Available at the Club Level

TULSA, Okla. - Major League Fishing’s innovative every-catch-counts competition format – complete with an in-boat leaderboard for all competitors – is now available to local tournament anglers through an Internet-based program called MLF SCORETRACKER LIVE.

Major League Fishing Commissioner Don Rucks announced today that the league has built technology that will allow any angler with a smart phone or tablet to download and utilize the same scoring system that made MLF an instant hit on Outdoor Channel.

"The one thing we’ve heard over and over, since the first round of the first Major League Fishing telecast, is that anglers around the country want to fish in their own MLF-style tournaments. They want to be able to count every scorable fish they catch, and they want to see a live leaderboard showing where they stand against the other anglers at any time.

"So we built the technology to make it happen,” Rucks said. “To put it simply, Major League Fishing at the club level is now here.”

When anglers utilize SCORETRACKER LIVE, real-time results will display competing anglers by name, show where they rank in comparison to other anglers in the event and offer their total weight and number of scorable bass caught. The leaderboard also displays the average weight of each catch and the weight of the anglers’ heaviest fish.

All information is updated instantly and will be viewable on majorleaguefishing.com via smart phone, tablet and/or computer.

“I truly believe that SCORETRACKER LIVE is the most progressive idea that has happened to local tournament fishing since catch-and-release was introduced,” Rucks said.

The cost for utilizing the SCORETRACKER LIVE technology is “$5 per angler per day and we are really pleased to be able to deliver this technology at such an affordable price,” Rucks said.

Allen Martin, a regional fisheries administrator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said he hopes that SCORETRACKER LIVE is a model for future bass tournaments.

“I like the fact that it encourages the almost immediate release of the fish and eliminates hauling fish around in a live well. That’s a lot of stress on fish, especially in the warm weather we have in Florida,” Martin said.

“Up until a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have thought we’d ever see this format,” Martin said. “We had talked about e-tournaments and even came up with some plans. But we concluded that until local anglers see the pro anglers do it, it’s never going to happen. Now, Major League Fishing is doing it, and they’re providing the technology.”

SCORETRACKER LIVE has been tested in Florida and Oklahoma, and the software “worked flawlessly,” said Florida Bass Network representative John Mobley, who directed a tournament on the St. John’s River near Palatka, Fla.

"I gave everyone my cell phone number just in case they ran into problems, and I didn't get a call all day. That speaks for itself,” Mobley said.

"The weights were super easy to put in, the page refreshed quickly, and I really liked how it broke down the number of fish, the average weight and the biggest fish.”